Evaluation of Breast Cancer and Melanoma Metastasis in Syngeneic Mouse Models

Syngeneic mouse models enable us to study the interaction of the immune system with tumor cells during tumor development and metastasis. It further allows us to evaluate the efficacy of immunotherapies on the different stages of tumor growth and the metastatic process. Here we describe two syngeneic mouse models, a murine mammary carcinoma and a murine melanoma model, that are used to study metastasis. Metastases occur spontaneously in the murine mammary carcinoma. The presence and number of foci are evaluated by culturing the lung tissue in a colony formation assay. For the murine melanoma model, tumor cells are injected intravenously, and metastatic burden is analyzed by counting of metastatic lesions.